Nintendo has seen its once-tepid Wii U sales pick up with the release of high-profile hit like Mario Kart 8 and Super Smash Bros, but not quite enough yet to end industry speculation that the last great stalwart from the so-called Golden Age of video games might be better off following onetime rival Sega's lead in getting out of the modern console race altogether - perhaps even by turning their attentions to mobile casual games.

YouTuber James Ondrey, as an exercise in improving his video-editing skills, has created a hypothetical "proof of concept" announcement trailer for what a "Nintendo App" might look like, imagining a near-future wherein the company's vast backlog of classic games have been reworked for the Mobile market. For an extra flourish, the visuals are matched to audio samples from Matthew McConaughey's infamous Lincoln ads.

Meanwhile, back in the real world, Nintendo has yet to make any indication that they are considering such a move; despite some pundits and insiders having already declared it to be a case of when - not if.

HOW ABOUT NO! Also, If they ever did go under, they should just lock everything in a vault where none of it can be ruined. If they did go third party, releasing on touchscreen only devices (the worst possible way to play a video game) would be the worst idea >=( I have a lot of feelings about this, guys....

Really the 3DS has about 50 million units sold so far. A bit of a slow start due to higher expense from a gimmick, but they got past that. I doubt we'll even see Nintendo games en-mass on a non-Nintendo branded device. Their hand held dominance would have to fail for that to happen.

Pundits and Insiders have been making this declaration for a while in hopes of eventually being right. It doesn't make them insightful just idiots banking on the 95% of business failures.

Even if Nintendo do end up going down the mobile route I doubt they ever drop their hardware, it allows them to much control. Anyways, as meh as the WiiU's sales have been how's that hand held market looking?

Anything they do on mobile will not supplant their games on other systems. Think Pokédexes, etc. For example

The thing that people keep forgetting is that the 3DS is doing really damn well. The Wii U has had its share of trouble, but a move to mobile as a primary platform for games would wreck their successful handheld business, rather than compensating for a struggling TV console business. It just doesn't make any sense. But using mobile for supplementary content, for things that enhance their other games and products, would be a great move, which is why they're already starting to do that.

Putting old-school games on tablets devoid of buttons? Seriously? over 90% of Nintendo's games are simply unplayable without a well-crafted responsive controller: how could such an app be anything except a massive ripoff?

...y'know, for speculative fiction to work, its possibilities have to be grounded in reality. And anyone with a brain would know that Nintendo going non-console is impossible. This is not speculative fiction, it is stupidity.

EDIT: To clarify, I can see the possiblity of Ninty doing optional apps to accompany their existing games, wich I see it completely redundant for both WiiU users and 3DS users with an internet connection, but actual GAMES on the appstore?. Click replay on that video.

Nintendo consoles always do something interesting, even if they aren't the most powerful on the market. I have a soft spot for their hardware, and as they themselves designed the platform, they know just how to push it to its fullest potential and create games that could never come from any other circumstances.With that in mind, Nintendo going third-party would certainly be The Darkest Timeline.

Nixou:The most baffling thing about this type of speculative fiction is...

Putting old-school games on tablets devoid of buttons? Seriously? over 90% of Nintendo's games are simply unplayable without a well-crafted responsive controller: how could such an app be anything except a massive ripoff?

Pretty much, now if only they had some sort of mobile device that also has these controller inputs to actually play the games with...

Nixou:The most baffling thing about this type of speculative fiction is...

Putting old-school games on tablets devoid of buttons? Seriously? over 90% of Nintendo's games are simply unplayable without a well-crafted responsive controller: how could such an app be anything except a massive ripoff?

If Nintendo would ever do that they would truly be dead. By that I mean dropping consoles (handhelds) all together and going mobile. Their power as a brand is one of nostalgia and old school console gaming. They give that up and their entire company is forfeit.

Nintendo will likely be in the console business the longest, because they know they have to.

Given they like proprietary hardware so much, sell the equivalent of the nVidia Shield minus the screen and processing with a slot for your standard Android smartphone, and a Steam-like piece of software for the games library. I reckon that would make them plenty of money.

Has anyone tried playing Super Mario Bros. on a touchscreen? It's not fun. Mega Man is arguably even harder.You need serious precision for Nintendo's type of games. That touchscreens simply don't offer.

Nintendo could definitely shake up their business, and the fact that phones are mostly open platforms, especially Android, Windows, and Linux variants. But you really do need to play Nintendo games and other classic games with buttons. They were designed with buttons in mind, and play best with buttons. Much like many modern games are designed with touchscreens in mind, and would play better with touchscreens.

What's wrong with the idea of Nintendo releasing old games on mobile while still keeping new games for their own consoles? You can't tell me that the older Pokémon and Zelda games wouldn't do fine on mobile just like Final Fantasy did.

Also to say the Wii U is seeing a sales increase is a bit of a joke as it's sales are way below were either the Saturn and Dreamcast where at the same point.

And while the 3DS has seen 50 million sales that's with more hardware revisions than any previous handheld in a far shorter time and sales are still piss poor not merely compared to the DS but also the PSP and Gameboy Advance.

A lot of people still like the idea of handhelds. And an Android handheld could probably do as good as a tablet.The Nvidia Shield didn't do terribly well. But neither did the Nvidia Shield tablet. It doesn't mean that there isn't a market for such a thing. It just means that Nvidia has a hard time breaking into these industries. Nvidia are fairly unknown outside of CG business and hyper-enthusiast PC gaming circles.

Most people familiar with mobile know brands like Apple and Samsung. Not so much Nvidia and Razer.And people buy tablets because they like multipurpose devices. The 3DS has an internet browser and a few popular mobile apps. But it's pretty closed and limited. Between a multipurpose "mobile" device, and a device that can pretty much only play games, most people find that they need a mobile device, more.

A Nintendo Android device could seriously shake up the industry. I know that it's a cutthroat industry, and Nintendo tends to be weak in terms of hardware, and Nintendo doesn't have the resources to sell things at ultra-low prices. But Nintendo has an Apple-esque quality to them. Apple sells hardware at way above cost, but people buy them to get the "Apple experience". So too would people do that with Nintendo to get a "Nintendo experience".

It would be a rough start, since Apple and Samsung lead this industry. But it would be a start that would lead to good things, I think. It might not sell as well as an iPad Air, but it would sell better than their current handheld, and reach a lot closer to their Nintendo DS numbers.

Going Android isn't necessarily "going mobile" and competing with Samsung and Apple, it's making their handheld division stronger by having broader appeal.

It's all marketing. As long as this crusade against Japan by the new Jack Thompsons continue, every news piece about Nintendo will decleare their imminent doom. Because they lust after their marketshare, supremely hypocrite as the Indie devs once revered the NES age as their formative motherland (what are Braid and Fez if not good natured ripoffs?).

Nintendo should've tried to replace the Wii with a Smart Phone instead of the Wii U. The Wii U failed for the same reason that Windows 8 failed. That being the stupid idea that people would want touch screens in their non portable devices. Touch screens are only convenient when there are no buttons available.

A man can dream. I look forward to the day when I can play an HD Zelda or Metroid on Steam, and then take Fire Emblem or Pokemon on my phone. The purists can whine all they want but, for a lot of people, that would be the best thing Nintendo has done in decades.

P-89 Scorpion:What's wrong with the idea of Nintendo releasing old games on mobile while still keeping new games for their own consoles? You can't tell me that the older Pokémon and Zelda games wouldn't do fine on mobile just like Final Fantasy did.

Also to say the Wii U is seeing a sales increase is a bit of a joke as it's sales are way below were either the Saturn and Dreamcast where at the same point.

And while the 3DS has seen 50 million sales that's with more hardware revisions than any previous handheld in a far shorter time and sales are still piss poor not merely compared to the DS but also the PSP and Gameboy Advance.

Because why cannibalize your business model? Once again, how many times does Nintendo need to reiterate this: they make a ton of money from their hardware sales, thus ensuring they can keep their autonomy and keep an experimental and unique identity in the gaming industry instead of just going down the same, bland, stodgy dead end that everyone else is. There is no point to it, it's just the cry of people who are incapable of thinking in the long term. They will never, ever stop making hardware, either in the home console front or the handheld front.

Eh, it might not be as bad as the touch screen option they gave in place for Mario 64 DS...they really should've waited when remaking that one and done it for the 3DS instead like what they did for a lot of N64 remakes. *hates having to hit the run button in 64 DS*

Nintendo is the most hardware centric company in the industry, they actually make unique hardware, which they integrate into their games. The Wii U is the only console that actually still feels like a console, and not just an underpowered PC.

I'm not saying Nintendo would never abandon the console market, but if they do, they'll be the last ones to do so, and they won't do it for shitty mobile games without proper buttons.

Nintendo should go software only? But didn't they make a profit in their last quarter or two?

Mcoffey:A man can dream. I look forward to the day when I can play an HD Zelda or Metroid on Steam, and then take Fire Emblem or Pokemon on my phone. The purists can whine all they want but, for a lot of people, that would be the best thing Nintendo has done in decades.

Nintendo would kill anything that isn't Mario or Zelda if they did that. If, hypothetically, they were to go software only tomorrow, you could kiss Splatoon, Star Fox (Which you people have been begging for for years), Project STEAM, and Xenoblade X goodbye.